Over the last few days I've visited several blogs who were 'talking' about judging books by their covers - covers that made you want to pick up a book, covers that turned you off. Only human, I've occasionally judged a book by its cover. Indeed, I've been guilty of just this 'crime' in the last day or so.
A big fan of the Sookie Stackhouse/True Blood series of books by Charlaine Harris, I was delighted when Husband dearest announced he'd ordered me a copy of her latest book
DEAD IN THE FAMILY.
But what an awful cover - not that I would have been put off buying it but given the option I would have preferred a different cover.
What do you think? Ever been tempted to buy/not buy a book by looking at its cover?
14 comments:
Obviously, a lot of people thought the cover of that book was awesome. Makes you wonder why they did it. Maybe for exactly this, they got us talking about it.
I have to say I have never bought/not bought a book based on the cover.
Yes, I've been tempted to buy/not buy a book by looking at its cover AND book's title.. as I can remember.
Interesting post!
Hope you're having a good weekend!
Big hugs,
B
xoxo
PLUS: Too busy working on a research project..agh! but I had/loved to quick pop over here. :)
Oh I despise tv/movie tie in covers.
My issue with this is the fact that #1 Lafayette is dead LONG before this book was written and #2 Jessica isn't even a character IN the books. Oh and Sookie and Bill? Not even together anymore.
Yeah. I hate this cover. I love this photo, I have it on my cubicle walls at work but not for a cover of the book. total Fail. In my opinion.
I don't tend to let the cover influence me when I'm book buying - but if it was my own book (I hope, someday) I'd be devastated if they gave me a horrid cover.
XX
Nice post. Yes, I have been tempted to buy/not to buy by a book's cover a few times.
A book cover will often encourage/discourage me from picking it up and looking, but I try not to let it influence my final decision.
As for this cover....I don't like it. But then I'm a fan of the books and don't watch the TV series.
I admit, I always look at the cover first, then the title, then if I'm interested I'll read the back cover. Yes, its horrible, I know.
But I agree with you on that cover...only a truly great author would make me want to look at that every time I reach for the book. So dark!
I wouldn´t fall for that cover either. I buy books based on what I know about the writer and the plot, but the right kind of cover can tempt me into trying a new writer.
Oh wow, total spoiler alert in the comments. :/
Anyhow, onto your question... I HAVE bought books by the looks of their covers alone before. Sure, it doesn't assure that the content is great, but it did a good job in catching my attention. I can't even begin to tell you how many books I've picked up because of the epicness that is their cover.
In a way, that's a good and bad thing, because I find new authors that way, yet sometimes I pass a book up that could have been a potentially awesome novel to read.
The Book Thief was a cover that made me pick up the book and buy it... and I'm so glad that I did.
hey sorry but i love this cover. Maybe it's different to the rest of the books that's why i love this cover. I've actually posted this in my cover art review and that this was not yet sold here.
Oh well, after reading a lot of negative reviews on this book 10, I finally decided to just wait for the paperback copy and i might buy this by next year after my favorite last book of VA comes out in december (which is again hardbound)
Oh well, since it was discussed above the tv seris, i think the tv series being different with the books makes it so much more interesting to watch. I'm not saying i love to have my VA in TV or movie be different. Its just that i find the TV series interesting.
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YES! Sad to say, but yes. You can't help it if you don't know anything about the author or book...something has to draw your attention. Best example I can give is Rick Riordan's THE RED PYRAMID. I really want to read this one and now have a copy, but somehow in the ordering process I picked the UK version versus US. Now cover differences aren't usually that bad, in fact some times, they're better, but this one....yeah, let's just say it's still sitting unread right now. O_o I'll read it eventually....sans slip cover.
That drives me crazy! This series has a really unique cover style and as someone who has collected the whole series it kills me when they change it mid stream. I was able to get the new book with the artist cover like the others but it has a big red(non removable) True Blood sticker smack dab on the cover...grrrr
I am really bad about judging by covers, but I can be convinced otherwise by synopsis or reviews.
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